Birthday weekend report...

Dear Gramma,
I am doing well out here in the small town of Shichinohe. How are you? 
I hope you're doing great. I miss you a whole bunch.
I first wanted to thank you very *very* much for the generous birthday present. I put it to good use during my birthday weekend! It happened to be a long weekend in Japan, as well as Canada, so my birthday was a holiday here, too. I like to think of it being a holiday in those countries cuz it’s my birthday and I’m just that special.

To the gates of Hell and back again.

When I realized there was a Mt Fear in Aomori, I knew I had to go there. The same location also has the Buddhist equivalent of the river Styx (the Sanzu River) and the gate to Hell it was believed by followers of Buddism to be the doorway to hell... I'm surprised it took me this long to get up there, actually. We got up early and headed out (I packed myself a bento of Roctober Curry) to the Shimokita peninsula to the desolate, yet eerie beauty that awaited us there. I told my office co-workers where I planned to go on the weekend, and they kept (jokingly) telling me that I was going to Hell.

Roctober Curry/Soup...

The minute the sun gets to the tree line and the shadows start to creep across the ground, reaching out to give you goosebumps where the sun had so recently warmed your skin, you shiver and desire a nice warm dinner in your belly and a cup of tea in your hands.

Or maybe it's just me and my refusal to stop wearing shorts and skirts while there are clear skies and temperatures above 15 Celsius. I want my freckles to stick around and to stockpile the delicious-and-cheery-mood-maintaining vitamin D.

Omnomnom.

However, it's also a nice, thick soup. So, I don't know what to tell you. :P

In keeping with the changing leaves, this dish includes many shades of orange, yellow and red (with some hints of green, of course, there are always some leaves that just refuse to change.)

Aaaaanyway.

Roctober Curry

五戸国際ミュージックフェスチェバル Gonohe International Music Festival

A couple of folks in the JET community organized this festival. I've missed going to shows (Shich' isn't exactly a destination for bands to play at... I don't even think there's really a venue here... maybe the outdoor stage 'downtown'...) The weather was beautiful and I'm so glad that we made the drive down.

Another apology recipe.

Hey Glen and Glendas,

Time's just been flying by, can't believe it's almost October! I've got some photos stocked up for posts, but I've just not had the office days to keep on top of my bloggin'!

So, I offer my latest creation as an apology for being tardy.



Mango-Pineapple Chicken

七戸町秋祭り (Shichinohe town fall festival) year 2: electric boogaloo.

The fall festival seems to be the largest one that this town celebrates, it lasts about 4 days and everyone except for my office and the supermarket seems to shut down early/for the weekend. Not that surprising given how many farmer's fields there are all over the place. Hooray for a good harvest!

ラッセラー! ラッセラー! Here's my post on ねぶた!

Hey hey everybody!

It's still summer vacation, so I have office days all this week. Which means.... time for a prompt update! Friday night was a work party. It was a really good time with my co-workers, dinner followed by karaoke. Thankfully it didn't go terribly late, and I wasn't hurting *too* much the next morning from all the umeshuu (plum wine) that I had to drink (it's like CANDY!). I met newly arrived Kyle and we drove down to the shinkansen station to meet up with Jenny and her friend who was due to arrive at 8 am.

Off we went to Aomori city for a day of adventure and to jump in the Nebuta Festival parade!